A Lesson in Friendship
by Prospero's Pal
Summary: A peek behind the scenes of MITM as the characters of Malcolm and Reese allow two other boys to become best friends. This story is fiction. No disrespect to anyone was intended.


INTERIOR SCENE – WILKERSON HOME – REESE AND MALCOLM SEATED AT TABLE

"Action!"

[Reese is distracted by a noise coming from outside and looks away. Malcolm uses the opportunity to grab a piece of bacon from his brother's plate. Reese turns around and notices one piece of bacon is missing.]

Reese: Put it back butt munch or I'll punch you!

[Malcolm theatrically waves around the bacon before putting it in his mouth. He chews and swallows.]

Malcolm: Put _what_ back?

[Reese is infuriated and launches himself across the table, sending plates, silverware, and their mother's favorite vase crashing to the floor. He dives for Malcolm, tipping his chair over. The younger boy grabs the table for balance but manages to pull it over. Reese lands on top of Malcolm and the table lands on top of Reese, who screams loudly. The boys look around at the damage they caused.]

Reese: See what you did, butt munch? Mom's going to kill us!

[Malcolm sticks his tongue out at Reese who promptly punches him in the face]

"CUT!"

Bryan, who is directing this episode, applauds. "Perfect, guys! That was incredible, very well done, very well done! Everyone OK? No broken bones? No cuts or scrapes?" He smiles and continues applauding. The rest of the cast and crew start clapping as well.

Justin (Reese) helps Frankie (Malcolm) off the floor and gives him a huge hug. Frankie is startled and reflexively pushes him away. Justin looks hurt. He stands there staring at his acting partner, not saying a word. He wipes his eyes and turns away quickly. Bryan realizes something is wrong and puts his hand on Justin's shoulder.

"Hey, slugger, everything ok? You guys can take a break; we don't need either one of you for the next scene and then I'm calling lunch. Go relax, buddy, it's been a long morning for all of us." Bryan rubs the boy's hair and then pats him on the back. "You going to be ok?"

Justin nods and wipes his eyes again. He glances over his shoulder at Frankie and bursts into tears. "Oh god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He sobs hard and runs off the set. Frankie and Bryan are both dumbfounded and exchange shrugs.

"Frankie, what the hell was that all about? Did you do something to him?"

"God, no! Why would I do anything to him? He just freaked out after the scene; I don't have any idea what's wrong. He's usually so calm and professional, you know?"

Bryan leads Frankie off the set and finds a quiet spot. "I'm in the next scene _and_ directing so I'm obviously stuck here. Do me a favor and go see what's eating him, ok? You're absolutely right about Justin. He's the most professional kid I ever worked with, always so easy going, always knows his lines and marks, hell he should be directing this episode, not me!" He chuckles.

"Um, yeah sure, I can do that." Frankie looked unsure. "I mean we're not exactly friends you know, he's really a pretty private person. I'm not even sure if he likes me, we never talk between scenes, he's always so busy studying his lines."

Bryan bends down to Frankie's level and lowers his voice. "Believe me, son, he likes you."

Frankie looks surprised. "He does? Did he tell you that?"

"He didn't have to tell me, it's obvious to everyone how he feels about you. Whenever you have a scene that he's not in, he's always standing just off set watching you with this big dopey grin on his face. Haven't you noticed that? Haven't you ever been inside his trailer?"

"His trailer? No, why would I go in his trailer?" Frankie laughed.

"Never mind, just go hang out with him for a bit. I need both of you guys to be at your best this afternoon; we have a couple of complicated scenes to shoot." Bryan looks up and shouts. "Be right there!" He pats Frankie on the back and winks at him, and then hurries back on set for the next scene.

Frankie walked out of the sound stage and went around the building to the area where the cast trailers are parked. They are small camper style units where the actors can go between scenes and rest or have a bite to eat or make private phone calls. He walked all the way to the end of the parking lot and knocked on the trailer marked "MITM – Justin."

After knocking a few times without an answer, Frankie considered leaving but gave it one more shot. "Justin, are you in there?" He banged loudly on the thin aluminum door. "Justin? It's me, Frankie! Open up, ok?"

Almost immediately, he got an answer. "Frankie? Oh my god! Umm, ah, give me a sec, alright?" After about 30 seconds, the door finally opened. A smiling Justin loomed in the doorway. He absolutely beamed at his co-worker. "Frankie! Hi, man! What's going on?"

Frankie noticed the boy's eyes were red and he suspected he didn't open up right away because he was crying. "Hi. I just popped by, you know, to hang out for a while. Bryan says he's going to call lunch after the next scene so we have some time to kill. Can I come in?"

Justin looked a little apprehensive but broke into a huge grin. "Duh! Sorry! Where are my manners? Of course you can come in!" He bowed theatrically, stepping out of the way so Frankie could come inside. "Welcome to my little hidey-hole."

Frankie looked around and immediately noticed the publicity photos covering every inch of wall space. Every one of them was of him and Justin, no one else, just the two of them. He understood Bryan's question now about being inside Justin's trailer. His fellow actor obviously liked him. He liked him a lot.

Justin's face turned red and he tried to distract his guest. "Want a soda? I've got a full fridge!"

Frankie smiled at his TV brother and walked over to the kitchen. He peered inside the surprisingly large refrigerator; it was twice the size of the one in his own trailer and it was packed with soft drinks. "Wow, you have like every soda in existence! Can I have a sugar free Dr. Pepper?"

"Go for it, butt munch!" Both boys laughed. In the show, Reese always called Malcolm butt munch, sometimes out of anger but usually he called him that out of affection.

"Thanks!" Frankie sat at the small kitchen table and opened his drink. Justin sat across from him and opened his, it was some weird off-brand ginger ale. Frankie spoke first.

"That's some collection you have on the walls, where did you get them all?"

Justin looked a little afraid. "Why, you don't think it's creepy do you?"

Frankie laughed. "No, I don't think it's creepy. I've just never even seen most of those photos before!" Actually, he thought it was totally creepy and worried his co-star might be a stalker.

Justin's big, toothy grin reappeared. "No big trick to it, I used to hang around the publicity office until they gave me what I wanted, you know, to get rid of me. Nowadays, they save any cool shots of us two and send them over; I don't even have to ask anymore." Justin stood and walked into the small living room, motioning Frankie to join him.

He pointed to his favorite photo, it was from the last day of shooting the show's pilot. "Remember _that_ day?" Justin was thrilled when Frankie stood right next to him, their shoulders touching. Frankie gazed at the picture and smiled. It showed the two of them, obviously tired with their hair uncombed and their clothes all messed up. They had their arms across each other's shoulders and they were grinning from ear to ear.

"Fuck yeah I remember that day! I didn't think we would ever get done, I was totally exhausted!" Frankie noticed Justin flinched and blushed at the f-word. "Um, sorry, I usually don't swear like that." Frankie also remembered the photo was a staged shot, he was simply acting, the studio photographer told them to put their arms around each other and act like they were best friends. All of the pictures were like that, either a staged publicity photo or a shot taken during a scene. None of them depicted anything real.

Justin slowly moved down the wall of photos, lovingly pointing them out one by one, giving every possible detail about them. Frankie was amazed at his memory. He could barely remember even posing for most of them, let alone the day and year they were taken. They stood quietly for a bit when they got to the last photo. Frankie stared at it and then looked around the room once again. He realized how much the collection meant to Justin and put his arm around his shoulder. Justin immediately choked up and started crying again. He was worried sick Frankie didn't have the same feelings for him as he had for Frankie. He could never figure out what other people were feeling. He just knew he had been pushed away when he had hugged his co-star on the set. He'd die if Frankie rejected him again.

"What's wrong? What the uh, f-word is going on with you today?" Frankie led his emotional acting partner to the small sofa, sitting down first and then pulling Justin down next to him. After a minute or two of crying, Justin pulled himself together. He was ashamed that he was acting like a big sissy in front of his hero.

"Sorry, dude. I'm just tired, I guess."

"No, it's more than just being tired. Besides, you never get tired this early on a shooting day. Look, I know we've never been friends but I know you well enough to know when something's uh, f-worded up. Talk to me, man. What's wrong?"

Justin looked wounded. "_We're not friends?_ _I thought we were friends, I really did!_ I'm sorry, Frankie. You better go, I'm sorry for hugging you earlier, it was totally unprofessional and wrong and it will NEVER happen again, I promise!" The boy wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his tee shirt and started to stand up. Frankie grabbed him by the seat of his pants and pulled him back down.

"I didn't say I didn't like you! It's just we never really got to know each other. Man, I didn't even know you liked me! You never talk to me between scenes and you never-ever asked me to do anything away from the job. If you thought we were friends, I'm sorry, but you can't be friends with someone you don't even know!"

Justin was stunned and deeply hurt by Frankie's words. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He hung his head down and stared at his own feet, tears falling onto the cheap beige carpet. He didn't say a word for a minute or so but finally mumbled something unintelligible.

"What? I didn't quite hear that." Frankie was afraid it was something like go to hell, you bitch.

His head still hanging down, Justin spoke up. "I said, _I don't know how_."

Frankie didn't understand. "You don't know how to do what?"

Justin took a huge breath and blurted out his big, dark secret. "I don't know how to make friends, OK? I've been working non-stop since I was 4 years old for god's sake! I never had any childhood friends, heck, I never even had a childhood! I never learned how to make a friend. I thought if you liked someone, they were your friend, like I thought you were my friend. I'm so retarded." He put a pillow over his face and slumped back on the sofa. "I'm such a moron."

Frankie felt like a total asshole. He had devastated the feelings of a talented, sensitive, and socially very awkward kid. Justin was a fantastic professional actor and the two of them shared many common experiences.

"Dude, tell me about working! It's been work, work, work since I was 7! But I was lucky I guess. I always had time to be at least a half-way normal kid, my parents made sure of that. Look, it's not hard, I can teach you how to make friends. Let's start with us. Justin? Justin? Are you listening?"

The other boy slowly peeked from behind his pillow and nodded. "Good! Justin, will you be my friend?"

Justin tossed the pillow on the floor and sat up, grinning at Frankie. "Really? You really want to be friends after the complete ass I just made of myself?"

"I totally want to be friends! Stand up!" Both boys stood. "Now, do you want to hang out together and do stuff, get to know each other, I mean really get to know each other, and really talk to each other?"

"YES!" Before he could say anything else, Frankie put both his arms around him and hugged him, pulling Justin against himself with all his might and not letting him pull away for at least 10 seconds. Justin smiled weirdly at Frankie and then grabbed him and planted a huge kiss directly on his lips and tried to put his tongue in his mouth. For the second time that day, Frankie pushed him away.

"Justin! What the fuck, man?"

"Did I do something wrong? Don't friends kiss each other?"

"No! Fuck no! Wait. Maybe, no. I mean sometimes. Oh fuck I mean yeah, sure. Jeez, man, of course friends can kiss but uh, seriously, you don't really know do you? About sex and kissing and all that, you don't have a clue do you? There's kissing and then there's _kissing_." Frankie realized Justin was very naive and needed a lot of patience. He correctly thought Justin didn't know the difference between having a boy who's a friend and having a boyfriend.

Frankie patted him on the shoulder. "It's OK, it can be our little secret. Usually you only put your tongue in someone's mouth when you want to ah, you know, have sex with them."

Justin looked intrigued. "Can I kiss you again?" Justin had big, beautiful, sad, green eyes and Frankie realized he could never break his heart.

"OK, but just once! I don't want this turning into a make-out session!" Frankie laughed but was secretly worried a make-out session was exactly what Justin wanted.

"Can I use my tongue?" Justin sounded _so_ _excited._

Frankie rolled his eyes. "Oh all right, if you have to, you can use your tongue. But that's as far as I go on the first date." Frankie meant it as a joke but realized Justin probably didn't get it.

After that, things were different between the two. On set, Justin was still not very talkative between scenes and continued to study his lines and setups. Frankie admired his dedication to their craft and didn't bother him. Away from the studio, however, the two started spending quite a bit of time together. One of the down sides of starring in an insanely popular TV show was the fact you couldn't just be a kid and hang out at the mall or comic book store without everyone mobbing you for autographs.

They had tried to sneak into a movie once and almost caused a riot as hundreds of teenage girls (and quite a few boys) surrounded them, thrilled to be in their proximity. Mostly, they played video games in one or the other's bedroom, or watched movies on pay-per-view. Sometimes they just sat quietly with each other or traded stories about being a child actor. When Reese took up cooking on the show, Justin discovered that he liked messing around in the kitchen as well. For months, every time Frankie came over, Justin made him try his latest creation. Most of them were pretty good but some were awful. Frankie never let on when that happened, he wouldn't dream of hurting his friend's feelings. Frankie got his license first and Justin helped him pick out his first car. Six months later, Justin turned 16 and Frankie returned the favor. One of their favorite things to do together was to go on long drives and talk about their lives and their plans for the future.

After the series ended, Justin and Frankie eventually went their separate ways but they always remained close. Justin finally learned how to make friends and that you should not go around hugging and kissing people without asking them first. Frankie learned what it was like to have a friend as true and as loyal and as special as Justin. He never told anyone else about that first kiss with him in the trailer but to this day, it's his favorite memory from all the years he made Malcolm in the Middle.


End file.
